The Des Moines Catholic Worker and Veterans for Peace are hosting the 2019 retreat on St. Patrick’s Day weekend, focusing on the drone command center at the Iowa Air National Guard base in Des Moines. Srs. Carol Gilbert and Ardeth Platte are Friday night’s speakers. Kathy Kelly is Saturday night’s speaker. The St. Patrick’s Day rally and direct action will take place at 1 p.m. at the base. Anyone planning to risk arrest is asked to attend a nonviolence training session on Sunday morning. For more information and updates, contact Frank Cordaro, frank.cordaro@gmail.com, 515-490-2490, or Jakob Whitson, jakobwhitson@gmail.com, 785-340-2458, or Gilbert Landolt, peacevet@hotmail.com, 515-333-2180.

March 30-April 4Mass Mobilization in Washington, D.C. to Oppose NATO, War and Racism

A growing coalition of U.S. peace and justice organizations is organizing a Mass Mobilization to Oppose NATO, War & Racism when the NATO ministers meet in Washington, D.C. on April 4. Preliminary plans include a mass mobilization in the city on Saturday, March 30, a counter-summit April 2, peace festival April 3 and march and nonviolent direct actions on April 4. For more information, visit worldbeyondwar.org/notonato and www.no2nato2019.org.

April 13-19
Sacred Peace Walk

All friends and fellow travelers are invited to join the Nevada Desert Experience for all or part of their annual Sacred Peace Walk, April 13-19, 2019, walking 60 miles from Las Vegas, past the killer drone center at Creech Air Force base to the historic Peace Camp, ending on Good Friday at the gates of the Nevada National Security Site (formerly known as the Nevada Test Site). Then, with the largest number of resisters we can raise and with the permission of the Western Shoshone National Council, we enter their sacred land together!

While this “arrest” will no longer be the ritual without consequences that it has been [due to a recent change re: prosecuting trespass arrests at the site], even in the new regime each one should be able to calculate the risk each is ready and able to take. First, anyone can participate in a meaningful way without crossing the line, each person adding to the strength of the whole action with no risk of arrest. Second, anyone entering the site with a Western Shoshone permit AND a photo ID such as a driver’s license, who has not already been issued a warning, will likely be processed quickly and released with a warning. Third, anyone entering with the Western Shoshone permit as their only ID should expect a ride to Pahrump and booked into the jail there. Marcus Page Collogne was held on $500 bond [after his October 2018 arrest], but who knows what they will do if there is a crowd of us? Going bail or not may be another option for each to consider. If we are held over, it is likely that a judge will let us out on Monday, either with time served or with a trial in the near future.

“Filling the Jails” is a time honored American tradition that has been an integral part of every successful movement for social progress and the stakes have never been higher. Thirty years ago, overwhelming numbers helped end prosecutions of protesters at the Test Site and contributed to implementing the global ban on full-scale testing of nuclear weapons. What we demand now is so much more than this. There are no promises of outcome beyond educated guesses in this proposal. It would be a step in faith, but one that these dangerous times demand of at least some of us and the more who show up, the more fun it will be!

Nevada Desert Experience is a faith based movement and the Sacred Peace Walk embraces the witness and worship of many traditions and of those who identify themselves with none. Walk and camp with us through the desert for the week or join us on Good Friday morning for a communal act of nonviolent resistance. For those who can, come prepared for a joyous weekend together in jail and a strong rebuke to oppressive power in court, if that’s how it goes. Contact us at info@nevadadesertexperience.org, or phone (702)646-4814.

April 27Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine

A coalition of peace groups across Maine are organizing a non-violent direct action at Bath Iron Works (BIW) on Saturday, April 27 at 8:30 am to protest the next ‘christening’ of another Zumwalt ‘stealth’ destroyer at the shipyard. The warship will be named the Lyndon B. Johnson (DDG 1002). The ships cost $7 billion each and will be ported in San Diego once commissioned. Normally the public is invited to walk into the shipyard to attend such a ceremony but because the last two ‘’destroyers ‘christenings’ have drawn civil resistance actions, BIW is saying it will be a ‘closed event’ and is requiring that the public apply for tickets in advance. Protesters will meet on Washington St. in Bath next to the post office. For more information please contact globalnet@mindspring.com or call (207) 607-4255.

March 26-August 9Büchel Air Base, Germany

The German Nuclear Weapons Free Now campaign will host their annual 20-week presence outside the Büchel air base from March 26 – August 9. Nonviolent resistance actions including vigils, blockades, de-fencings and go-ins will be concentrated during several weeks in July, including the International Action Camp July 8–16. U.S. activists are invited to come and demand the bombs be sent back to the U.S. where they came from. A major action by religious abolitionists will take place on July 7, the anniversary of U.N. approval for the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Plan to stay for several days for repeat go-ins and possible short-term detention. For more information and to sign an international Declaration of Solidarity (if you can’t attend), visit www.buechel-atombombenfrei.de.

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